CSU5 Review: December 2013 – June 2017

Milestones:

The CSU5 is established in December 2013 during a meeting co-hosted by CSUN and the Annenberg Foundation. Campus presidents and provosts meet with community leaders from the public, private, non-profit and philanthropic sectors to explore regional needs and how a CSU collaborative might address those needs.

In the spring of 2014, the “Guide” position is created in response to the County’s work to create a regional consortium to respond to a federal manufacturing community designation. Each campus president selects a Guide. The first meeting of the Guides is held in May 2014.

In October 2014, the two foundational “Basic Principles” documents are developed and approved by campus presidents.

CSU5 marketing and public relations materials are created and produced, including the seal, banners, tablecloths, a website and a brochure that is available as a printed piece and as an e-brochure.

The administrative lead campus moved from CSUN to Cal State LA in July 2017.

Research and Economic & Workforce Development Activities:

AMP SoCal
The Los Angeles Office of the Mayor invites the CSU5 to take a role in the AMP SoCal consortium that is created for the purpose of applying for a regional I.M.C.P. (Investing in Manufacturing Communities Partnership) designation. AMP SoCal is awarded the I.M.C.P designation which provides preference for certain grant opportunities from various federal agencies. The CSU5 remains a key partner in the AMP SoCal consortium, which includes staff and faculty participation on the executive committee and on pillar committees.

LA P3
The CSU5 is invited to join LA P3, a City of Los Angeles-led application that successfully receives federal P3 (Performance Pilot Partnership) funding and policy reform opportunity. LA P3 focuses on administrative, regulatory or statutory requirements that inhibit the success of programs and activities designed to address the needs of disconnected youth to move those individuals toward productive lives. LA P3’s charge is to identify obstacles that must be addressed and measure the success of any new approach. Nine sites are selected for the P3 award and LA P3 is the only one that covers several segments of disconnected youth populations, identifying “disconnected youth” as all L.A. City YouthSource and L.A. County WIOA youth participants, as well as subpopulations of foster, probation, homeless, runaway, and high school dropouts. The age ranges encompass younger youth (16-18), older youth (19-21), and young adult (22-24) served by the LA P3 agencies. Work begins in the summer of 2017 to establish the multi-campus ReLAY Institute (ReLAY = Reconnecting LA Youth). The ReLAY Institute will serve as an innovation hive, professional development academy, service learning academy and a best practice/data collection repository for work connected to disconnected youth.

Department of Human Resources for the County of Los Angeles
The CSU5, through the Guides and the five Campus Career Center Directors, collaborated with the Department of Human Resources for the County of Los Angeles to solve workforce shortages.

“Connecting the Dots” UAV/CyberSecurity conference (held in conjunction with the International Drone Expo, Los Angeles Convention Center) co-hosted by CPP and the LAEDC.

“Focus on Fashion” event downtown Los Angeles, Arts District in October 2015. This event was held in conjunction with LA Innovation Week, which is organized annually by the LAEDC. The CSU5 Apparel programs, led by CPP’s Apparel Merchandising Program, held two focus groups to gather information and suggestions from industry on how to support the apparel design and manufacturing industry in Southern California.

Aerospace conferences and conventions with the LAEDC.

My Brother’s Keeper
The CSU5 accepts an invitation from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to take a leadership role in the My Brother’s Keeper Community Challenge. Environmental scans of each campus capturing those activities that align with the goals of the Challenge are prepared. Guides work closely with the County Coordinator to plan a fall summit, which results in a report with recommendations. This effort supported the P3 application described above.

Metropolitan Water District
The CSU5, with Cal Poly Pomona in the lead, co-hosts a “Mash-Up” event with the Metropolitan Water District to bring CSU5 faculty; state, city and county agencies; and non-profit entities together to stimulate partnerships and identify funding opportunities around “water.” One significant outcome is the successful application for the PUC EPIC grant.

Public Utilities Commission EPIC innovation cluster grant with LACI
The CSU5 joins a grant application led by LACI (Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator) for a Public Utilities Commission EPIC innovation cluster grant. The CSU5 campuses are subcontractors to deliver the services — stimulating entrepreneurial activity in the energy field — named in the grant. CSU Fullerton and CSU Channel Islands are also part of the initiative. This engagement is led by the CSU’s WRPI team in collaboration with the Guides network. The application wins the 5 million dollar award.

Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII)
CSU5 campuses joined the successful effort to win the 5-year, $70 million federal grant to the Smart Manufacturing Leadership Coalition (https://smartmanufacturingcoalition.org/) that created the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute (CESMII). Headquarter in Los Angeles and anchored by UCLA, CESMII will be a national network with regional centers in California, Washington, New York, North Carolina and Texas to leverage each area’s unique industrial environments. With the goal to train 500 students annually in smart manufacturing, the CSU5 campuses will be the key educational partners to deliver the educational programs.

External relations:

As a national model for engagement, the CSU5 is hosting the University Economic Development Association’s (UEDA) 17th Annual Summit, “Delivering the Future: Higher Education’s Role in an Ever-Changing World,” where national experts and practitioners will share best practices and present case studies that leverage community college, college, and university resources for greater economic development and community impact across the United States. The Summit will be held in Long Beach in October 2017.

CSU5 Guides submit proposals and receive invitations to present at national conferences:

The rise and impact of the CSU5 was “pitched” at the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU) Annual Conference by a Guide (2014). Due to overwhelming interest, APLU featured the CSU5 at its website.

Through the University Advancement offices, the CSU5 responds to a request from the Mayor of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Area Chamber, and Forbes magazine to sponsor an ad in an issue of Forbes that featured an advertorial section on Los Angeles. CSU5 campuses were also invited to send representatives to an exclusive related reception.

Hosted by Cal State Long Beach, executives from the Los Angeles News Group (LANG) meet with the Guides to discuss more robust engagement with the CSU5.

L.A. Compact’s leadership team contacts the CSU5 Guides for exploratory conversations about how the CSU5 can strengthen the mission of the L.A. Compact.

CSU Dominguez Hills and the College Futures Foundation provide the opportunity for the CSU5 campuses to address the topic of innovations in student success—particularly, what approaches are successful or ineffective for young men of color, as well as other traditionally underrepresented students.

CSU5 president, provosts, AVPs of Undergraduate Studies and Guides host a round-table discussion with the Los Angeles Community College (LACCD) Chancellor, Francisco Rodriguez, and the nine LACCD college presidents. During the two-hour meeting, a host of issues are discussed on more extensive collaboration between the CSU5 and LACCD9, including identifying obstacles and strategizing solutions for progress and success to this end. Working groups are established.

The CSU5 campuses make a significant commitment to “Propel L.A.,” the Countywide Strategic Plan for Economic Development created and now being implemented by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC).

Internal activities:

Inventorying CSU5 resources assets is underway to more efficiently respond to regional needs and opportunities coming from grant applications or economic development initiatives.

CSU 5 Guides and key campus stakeholders are planning a Transportation and Logistics research networking event. Organized by CSULB, the event will bring together researchers from all five campuses, as well as industry partners from all facets of transportation and logistics, and from policy issues to technological innovations.